Forest is a type of Terrain in the world of Master of Magic. It is quite abundant on both Planes, sometimes appearing as entire regions of wooded land.

Forest tiles combine a small bonus to any nearby town's Maximum Population and Maximum Food with a small bonus to such towns' Production rate. This makes them somewhat generalized - useful but not excellent.

For most Walking units, movement through Forest tiles costs 2 Movement Points. The Forester ability, however, reduces this back to 1 Movement Point per Forest tile. Construction of Roads in Forest tiles is only moderately fast, but indeed faster than most other tiles.

Forest tiles can contain a wide variety of Terrain Specials, mostly Nature Nodes and various other Encounter zones. Furthermore, Forest tiles are the only default location for Wild Game, which significantly increases the tile's strategic importance.

A town with no Forest tiles in its vicinity cannot construct a Sawmill - thus stunting its development. Fortunately for Nature-wielding wizards, it is possible to change Grassland tiles into Forest tiles to remedy this, using the Change Terrain spell. Forests can also be transformed back into Grassland with the same spell. The Gaia's Blessing spell has no such effect on Forests, but instead doubles their Production bonus.

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A Forest is a dense growth of trees, and a fertile habitat for many animal species. In areas were the ground is rich with water, essential minerals and plenty of sunlight, trees will multiply over centuries - winning over land from other plant species.

To humanoid species, Forests provide several important resources which are absolutely essential to creating well-developed population centers. They provide wood for the construction of buildings and tools, and fruit for feeding citizens. Animals living in the Forest can also be hunted for meat.

Though the trees growing in Arcanus (vivid green) are very different from those growing in Myrror (with black leaves and dark trunks), they are indistinguishable in terms of their benefit. The quality of the wood is the same, and although different fruits and animals are collected there, they give the same nutritional benefits.

Furthermore, some Forests provide a habitat for herds of larger herbivores. These can be hunted more systematically to provide more food for a town's population. A town with access to such a Forest will enjoy a food source that is even better than a tilled field.

Forest tiles are extremely common on both Planes. They cover much of the land area, and can be found in every latitude on the map. Myrror in particular seems to have a high ratio of Forests to any other type of Terrain (except Oceans).

Forests can appear in isolated areas, such as a lone Forest tile in the middle of different terrain. More often however there will be entire stretches or groups of Forest tiles. It is rare, but quite possible, to see an entire region covered by Forests with only a few Hills or Rivers dotting it.

Forest tiles provide both wood and sustenance, but excel in neither field. In game terms, a single Forest provides a small Maximum Population bonus and a small Production bonus (but no Trade bonus). As a result they are considered "generic" and suitable for any type of town.

Furthermore, Forest tiles are required for the construction of a Sawmill.

A Forest tile within the catchment area of a town will provide +0.5 to that town's Maximum Population. In other words, if a town were to be surrounded entirely by Forest tiles, its Maximum Population would be 10.5 (21 tiles * 0.5 = 10.5).

Maximum Population dictates the absolute maximum number of citizens a town can have. Once it reaches this many citizens, it will simply stop growing. Maximum Population also determines the town's rate of Population Growth: the larger the gap between the town's current population and it's maximum population, the faster the town grows.

Furthermore, Maximum Population also determines how much Food can be produced in a town before inefficiency sets in. Once this limit of Food production is reached, additional citizens assigned to Farmer duty will produce much less Food - thus being inefficient. Higher Maximum Population means a higher Food production efficiency threshold, thus allowing more Farmers to be assigned and still have full efficiency.

As a result of these factors, it is not usually wise to place a town in a heavily-wooded area unless it has access to at least a few River and/or Grassland tiles. Nonetheless, Forests containing Wild Game (see below) are far more beneficial to Maximum Population, and in fact are even more beneficial than both Rivers and Grassland!

Each Forest tile within a town's vicinity provides that town with a Production bonus of +3%.

This 3% is calculated based on the total amount of Production yielded by the town's Farmers and Workers. For example, if the town's population gives a total of 100 Production, each Forest tile in its vicinity adds +3. Note that total production is rounded down to a whole number, but only after all bonuses have been added together. For reference, point the survey tool at a town or proposed site for settlement to see the total Production bonus given by all tiles within its catchment area.

Increased Production is very useful, as it speeds up construction times of both Town Buildings and Units. With the Trade Goods projects it is also possible to turn this extra Production into Gold.

Though Forests don't give a very large Production bonus compared to Mountains, it is nonetheless a respectable bonus and - coupled with the Maximum Population bonus described above - a good overall boost to a town's proper development.

In order to construct a Sawmill, a town requires at least one Forest tile within its catchment area. If no such tile is present, the building may not be built there.

The Sawmill is very important for proper town development. On its own it gives a respectable Production bonus for a very low investment, and then unlocks at least one additional structure - the Foresters' Guild, which is even more beneficial. For some races, the Sawmill is required for creating Bowmen, and for others it is necessary for the Ship Yard.

As a result, a town that is completely devoid of Forest tiles within its catchment area is going to have some trouble kick-starting its development, and may end up limited in some ways compared to other towns. With the exception of skilled Nature wizards (who have access to Change Terrain, as explained below), it is almost essential to make sure that each and every town has access to at least one Forest tile.

Forest tiles have a good chance of containing Wild Game, and are the only location where this Mineral is found by default. On the plane of Myrror, Wild Game is even more abundant - and still found only in Forests.

A Forest tile with Wild Game is extremely valuable for town development. It provides a total Maximum Population boost that's the highest of any tile (higher even than Rivers and Nature Nodes). On top of this, the tile continues to provide its default +3% Production bonus as described above.

Forest tiles are considered averagely-rough terrain, and most units will have a difficult time moving through them - though they are not the most difficult of terrain in the game.

Normally, Walking units lose 2 Movement Points when entering a Forest tile. The exception is units with the Forester trait, which can move into Forests at the expense of only 1 Movement Point. If a stack contains at least one Forester unit, the entire stack may enter Forest tiles for only 1 Movement Point.

Flying units treat Forest tiles like any other tile. They take only 1 Movement Point to enter it. Similarly, Pathfinding stacks (e.g. Non-Corporeal units) can enter this tile for their usual cost of 0.5 Movement Points.

Sailing units that do not have an alternative Movement ability cannot enter Forest tiles at all.

As with any land tile, Forest tiles can be upgraded with a Road. This is done using Engineers, who are only available to certain Races.

A single unit of Engineers will take 6 turns to construct a Road on a Forest tile. Each additional unit of Engineers reduces this by 50% (rounded up). Therefore, 2 unit will take 3 turns, 3 units will take 2 turns, and 4 or more units will take only 1 turn to build this road. Additional Engineers (beyond 4) do not speed this up any further.

Dwarf Engineers work twice as fast as other Engineers. This means that a single Dwarf Engineers unit can complete a Road in a Forest tile in only 3 turns, and two or more Dwarf Engineers will only take 1 turn to complete construction of a Forest road.

Once a road has been constructed, the cost to enter this Forest tile changes to 0.5 for all units, regardless of their movement type. Note however that Sailing units still cannot enter this tile, since they cannot move on land.

If the road was constructed on Myrror, or affected by the Enchant Road spell, movement costs to enter this tile are completely removed for most units. In other words, Walking and Flying units can enter this tile without spending any movement points. Non-Corporeal units cannot use this special road, and will still require 0.5 Movement Points to enter the tile.

The Change Terrain spell can be cast on any Forest tile that does not contain a Nature Node. When this spell is cast on the tile, it will turn this tile into Grassland. This increases the tile's Maximum Population bonus to any nearby town to +1.5. However, the tile no longer gives any Production bonuses.

Furthermore, if this was the last Forest next to a nearby town, that town will not be able to construct a Sawmill (assuming it doesn't already have one). This can be a problem since a Sawmill is incredibly useful, but then again the Grassland can always be changed back into a Forest by casting the spell another time. Losing the last Forest does not cause a town to lose an existing Sawmill.

As mentioned above, the same spell may also be used to change Grassland tiles into Forest tiles. The targeted tile loses more than half of the benefit it gives to the Maximum Population and Maximum Food of any nearby town, but instead will provide a +3% Production bonus as Forests do.

This is primarily useful when a developing town or major production center requires faster build speeds instead of faster Population Growth or Food output. The bonus isn't much (for a single Forest), but in some situations it can be a good idea.

In particular, note again that a town without any nearby Forests cannot construct a Sawmill. To remedy this, Change Terrain may be cast on a nearby tile until it becomes a Forest. If the Forest is actually not needed near the town, it can be changed back into a Grassland tile after the Sawmill's construction is completed - it is no longer required to support this building.